A Bag of Pennies

I got on the streetcar
at dundas
and just went – I was
new, didn’t know
where I was going
or why
but it turned out to be
the junction – that is,
the neighbourhood in toronto,
not the thing
which streetcars do. and it was
so perfectly hot
and so wonderfully – I mean
you could drop a bag of pennies
and they wouldn’t roll away. people
were all out
and dogs and birds and the whole town
a riot of black squirrels
like some artist
needed a detail for the corners
but couldn’t think of anything
to draw. perfect. I browsed
a bookshop, picked something up,
then left
and got myself a beer
and the day
broke suddenly
from aimlessness. that happens –
a beer in the afternoon
on a hot day
is amazing. I stayed there hours on the patio,
drinking
and reading the city. like a hawk
floating over concrete
and the ground
all swarming with squirrels.

Header photograph © Elle Danbury.